WILL SPEAK OUT IN LEXINGTON ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 9TH, 2007 AT 11:00
A.M., THOROUGHBRED PARK, AGAINST PREJUDICE

LEXINGTON, KY – H. K. Edgerton, a noted social activist
and educator from North Carolina, was scheduled to speak to students
at Allen Central High School in Floyd County, Kentucky on Friday,
as part of Black History Month, but Floyd County School Superintendent
Paul Fanning has forbidden his appearance there.

Allen Central has been the focus of a series of articles by the
Associated Press and other media recently for its use of a Confederate
battle flag and soldier as school symbols. “We thought this
was an ideal educational opportunity,” said Dr. Tom Hiter,
Commander of the Kentucky Sons of Confederate Veterans, which
had underwritten the cost of Edgerton’s lecture, “Mr.
Edgerton speaks frequently on the roles of African-Americans in
the South during the War Between the States, and is an expert
on modern race relations and Confederate symbols.”

“Southern blacks and whites need to understand,”
said Edgerton, “that we have a common heritage and the Confederate
battle flag is something we need to unite under rather than divide
over. Prejudiced people like Louis Coleman (who has protested
Allen Central) make a living keeping us divided, and Ned Pillersdorf
worsens that prejudice terribly by making up stories that aren’t
true (referring to a story, which indeed proved untrue, run by
the Associated Press where Pillersdorf claimed Allen Central fans
taunted a player on a basketball team he coaches).”

In fact, the Associated Press has run a total of five stories
on Allen Central recently, all of which were biased or even untrue.
However, when the Sons of Confederate Veterans issued statements
showing this, and even when two school board meetings in Floyd
County were filled with members of the community successfully
showing support for the school symbols at Allen Central, the Associated
Press ran no corrections or stories at all.

“So this time we’ll make it easy for the media to
get the story right,” Hiter continued, “H. K. Edgerton
and officers from the Sons of Confederate Veterans will hold a
press conference and protest across the street from the Lexington
Herald-Leader at 11:00 a.m., at the corner of Main and Midland
(Thoroughbred Park) on Friday.”

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a genealogical, historical
and educational organization comprised of male descendents of
honorably discharged Confederate soldiers, sailors and marines.
Founded in 1896, the SCV has over 32,000 members, and in Kentucky
there are 27 local chapters called camps.